RESOUR> [NetGold] EMAIL: SPAM AND ABUSE : LAW: ACTS AND LEGISLATION : ARTICLE: Why the New Federal "CAN Spam" Law Probably Won't Work

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Net Happenings - From Educational CyberPlayGround
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Date: Thu, 4 Dec 2003 11:47:26 -0500 (EST)
From: David P. Dillard <jwne@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: NetGold <NetGold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [NetGold] EMAIL: SPAM AND ABUSE : LAW: ACTS AND LEGISLATION :
     ARTICLE:  Why the New Federal "CAN Spam" Law Probably Won't Work


EMAIL: SPAM AND ABUSE : LAW: ACTS AND LEGISLATION : ARTICLE:  Why the New
Federal "CAN Spam" Law Probably Won't Work

Why the New Federal "CAN Spam" Law Probably Won't Work
By ANITA RAMASASTRY
Wednesday, Dec. 03, 2003
Findlaw
<http://writ.news.findlaw.com/ramasastry/20031203.html>

Both the House and the Senate have now approved anti-spam legislation.
("Spam," of course, is unsolicited email.) First, the House approved an
anti-spam bill, 392-5. Then, the Senate unanimously approved a version of
that bill with minor technical changes, the Controlling the Assault of
Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act of 2003, which is also
referred to as the CAN Spam Act.

In early December, due to these changes, the House will have to vote once
again on the CAN Spam Act, but it seems a foregone conclusion that it will
pass. Moreover, it appears very likely that President Bush will sign the
bill into law.

In theory, that's a good thing: Congress's findings noted that
"[u]nsolicited commercial electronic mail is currently estimated to
account for over half of all electronic mail traffic, up from an estimated
7 percent in 2001, and the volume continues to rise." At this point,
there's little question that spam is a big, and growing, problem.

<snip>

Unfortunately, in practice, the new anti-spam law -- while
well-intentioned -- may be ineffective. The sad news is that the new
legislation is unlikely to achieve its goal of eliminating the bulk of the
spam we receive.

The Specifics as to What the Anti-Spam Legislation Will Prohibit

To begin, the new law will not prohibit all spam.

Instead, it will require that spam be truthful, and it will provide the
government with enforcement mechanisms to go after fraudulent or deceptive
spammers.

<snip>

Why won't the spam law work?

First, much of the illegal or deceptive spam that we receive in the United
States comes from overseas. (For example, many of us have received letters
from purported relatives of Nigerian dictators -- part of a wave of
fraudulent spam that is initiated from overseas.)

It will be difficult to find international spammers and to bring them to
justice - even when we do know who they are, which is rare.

-------------------------------

The above gives some background and part of the reasoning behind the
author's contention that the antispam federal legislation will be
ineffective.  Other problems with the legislation are discussed in the
article which may be read in its entirety at the URL above.


Sincerely,
David Dillard
Temple University
(215) 204 - 4584
jwne@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NetGold/>
<http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/ringleaders/davidd.html>
<http://www.kovacs.com/medref-l/medref-l.html>

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